Reformist Muslim group offers counter-bounty on Al Baghdadi

September 19th, 2007 by Monitor

A US-based Islamic reform group has offered a reward for information “leading to the capture or neutralization” of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the self-appointed al-Qaida leader in Iraq who put the bounty on the head of Swedish Modog cartoonist Lars Vilks.

Muslims Against Sharia (“Acknowledging Mistakes, Accepting Responsibilities, Moving Forward”) put up the equivalent of $15,000 as a counter-bounty:

Muslims Against Sharia praise the courage of Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Thorbjorn Larsson and the staff of Nerikes Allehanda and Dagens Nyheter and condemn threats issued by Abu Omar Al Baghdadi and the Islamic State of Iraq. Muslims Against Sharia will provide a payment of 100,000kr (about $15,000) for the information leading to capture or neutralization of Abu Omar Al Baghdadi.

This is the first we’ve heard of the newly-formed group. The domain reformislam.org was registered anonymously on Aug 29 this year, and their first blog post, which outlines their objectives, appeared on Sept 11.

Their goals:

– to educate Muslims about dangers presented by Islamic religious texts and why Islam must be reformed
– to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists (a.k.a. Islamic Religious Fanatics, Radical Muslims, Muslim Fundamentalists, Islamic Extremists or Islamofascists)
– to educate both Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Moderate Muslims are also targets of Islamic Terror

They seem cool, they even have a specific email address for death threats, wonder who’s backing them if they have that amount of money, though as al-Baghdadi might not even exist, I don’t suppose they’re worried about having to pay out.